Zygote Fellows

Arts Education Advisor

Benjamin Levy is a curator and art historian. He is a PhD Candidate in Art History in the Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Museum of Art joint program. Ben is passionate about printmaking, photography, and the artistic practice. Prior to coming to Cleveland, Levy was the Assistant Curator for Collections & Academic Programs at the Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, and as the Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Prints, Drawings & Photographs at the Baltimore Museum of Art. He was a contributing author for the journal Art in Print and the Co-Director of the 2012 and 2015 Baltimore Contemporary Print Fairs. He serves on the National Advisory Board for the Tamarind Institute, University of New Mexico, and as an officer of the Association of Print Scholars. A graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art, Levy studied printmaking, book arts, and photography, gaining collaborative printmaking experience at Harlan & Weaver, Inc. and Dieu Donné in New York.

Thao Nguyen is a Korean-Vietnamese illustrator based in Cleveland, Ohio.  She graduated with a BFA in Illustration at the Cleveland Institute of Art in 2021. Since then, she has worked as a product designer for American Greetings. In her work, she strives to evoke mood through the exploration of light, shadow, and color. She wants people to see and appreciate the role light has in our lives and showcase how important these elements are when looking at artwork.

Wake up. Create. Repeat.

I found my passion and what I truly believe is my purpose in life after being gifted a camera in 2014. The older I grow the more I appreciate time and just how precious it is. As a photographer I enjoy the chance and making time stand still. Throughout my journey as a photographer thus far I've found my pocket in telling beautiful stories in the form of a photo. The saying “a photo says 1000 words” couldn't be closer to the truth. 

When captured correctly, a great photo can put the viewer right in that moment of time of the photo. As a black photographer I feel it's my duty to highlight the black experience and the humanization of our culture in all aspects.

My name is John Brown VI and I have a BFA in painting and drawing from Ohio University and an MFA in Visual Communication Design from Kent State University. I currently work as a Senior UX Designer for Sherwin-Williams. It was a unique experience to transfer into design from art to graphic design to user experience and with that experience I am sure I can be a successful fellow and leader in the Proof fellowship. While creativity and art and design have drawn most of my hobbies, outside of my discipline I am interested in philosophy, soccer, and cars. I enjoy trying new foods and spending time with my loved ones.

Leila Khoury is a multidisciplinary artist who visualizes the connections between placemaking, the built environment, and community histories through sculpture, participatory research, and design. Khoury received her BFA in Interdisciplinary Sculpture from the Maryland Institute College of Art and her Master of Architecture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Khoury’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in Cleveland and Columbus, OH; New York City and Troy, NY; Chicago, IL; Baltimore, MD; Washington, D.C.; Pittsburgh, PA; Waukesha, WI; and Subhan, Kuwait. Between June and September 2018, two works by Khoury were featured in the National Museum of Women in the Arts’ exhibition series, Women to Watch.

IG: @_leilakhoury

RA Washington is an American artist known for his work in conceptual art, music, poetry, writing, and community organizing. Since relocating to Cleveland in 1991, he has been involved in various collaborative projects, including co-founding DIY spaces like Inside Outside Gallery, The Church of Albert Ayler, and Guide To Kulchur (GTK), a cooperative press and bookstore. He has contributed as a composer, instrumentalist, and vocalist in bands such as Vernacular, Blk Tygr, and Mourning[A] BLKstar.

His written works encompass poems, novels, and essays published in collections such as "The Paris Notebooks" (NightBallet Press, 2014) and a trilogy of memoirs—BODY, Black Eunuch, and Baldwin Notes (Outlandish Press, 2017-2021). Washington has been involved in conceptual art collaborations like Jacolby Satterwhite's "DAWN" and Asad Raza’s "Delegation" (2022). Co-founding Mourning [A] BLKstar led to the collective receiving the 2021 Cleveland Arts Prize in Music.

Brought up on the southeast side of Cleveland, Ohio, Anastasia Malone explores the pageantry of black femininity she witnessed during her childhood. Her work is inspired by her youth, black beauty, and the fluidity of futurism. Fueled into her practice by desire Anastasia’s journey into physical art materialized at the age of 27, driven by a lack of accessibility to materials and resources. Her work is introspective and reflective of the black experience within the inner city, specifically pageantry. Anastasia strives to archive black life and history within her work.